Hello and welcome to Popcorn Not Included’s first virtual screening, or should I say screaming?! No! No I should not.
Thank you for joining us and what better way to celebrate the halloween weekend than with the horror classic Night Of The Living Dead. Yes, we know it’s public domain, we have no money, but really that’s not important! Night of the Living Dead is a horror film made by the horror legend George A. Romero back in 1968 and it is an extremely important film for many reasons.
I’m not going to say it saved the horror genre, it's a hard statement to make as in the exact same year we had Rosemary’s Baby released in cinemas while Vincent Price and Christopher Lee were both still figureheads in the genre. However it was an extremely fresh take as a horror film in its tone and themes. A horror film ahead of its time, one made not just to fright, but something that had a depth and substance to it.
For many horror fans we associate George A. Romero as the ‘Godfather of the Dead’ bringing life to the zombie genre, claiming it as his own. But what gets forgotten is the social and moral commentary of the western world that he brings with this film and its predecessors with Dawn and Day Of The Dead over the following decades.
If you are a film student or an aspiring filmmaker you need to watch this film. It is a fantastic example of how to create exposition and tone without scenes becoming stale. Even in those first few minutes you get a sense of the production and craft that has gone into this. The music, effects, and pacing of the cuts add a sense of foreboding instantly, with shit hitting the fan around the six minute mark.
You can argue the first scare scene feels somewhat vintage. But this is more of a nod to the past and present films of that genre of the same time and from this moment on the audience are taken down a more dramatic, realistic, and unrelenting path. It’s essentially, “we know about this, but we’re now going to do this”!
Like the first assailant picking up a stone to smash a window you realise a new found intelligence to this genre. If we think back to all the tropes and cliches we have with horror films over the years; You watch this one to see the “damsel in distress” kick off her shoes to run after falling over, locks the car doors, removes the handbrake of the car to ultimately escape for the time being. Admittedly the classic screaming and terror come with it but there are actions, and it’s not until later when the shock takes over the character then they are somewhat put to the side.
The introduction to the lead protagonist has a beautiful cinematic sense to it, arriving from a blinding light to ultimately take over the narrative. In truth, and again the surprise with this film, no character could be called an out and out hero. Even our lead makes choices and actions that the audience may not completely agree with and shows that despite this b-movie facade the film does its utmost to flesh out these characters all the way up to the its bleak and sobering conclusion. Are the living dead the ghouls? or is it humanity itself that we should fear?
So throw your tables against the doors, board up your windows, and click the link below! Popcorn Not Included presents to you… Night Of The Living Dead. We hope you had a Happy Halloween! x
- Popcorn Not Included
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